Miguel Bruns Alonso

MusicCube: making digital music tangible

To some extent listening to digital music via storage devices has led to a loss of part of the physical experience associated with earlier media formats such as CDs and LPs. For example, one could consider the role of album covers in music appreciation. Previous efforts at making music interaction more tangible have focused mainly on access issues. A case study is presented in which several content attributes of Mp3 formatted music as well as control access are made more visible and tangible. Play lists, music rhythm, volume, and navigational feedback were communicated via multicolored light displayed in a tangible interface. Users were able to physically interact with music collections via the MusicCube, a wireless cube-like object, using gestures to shuffle music and a rotary dial with a button for song navigation and volume control. Speech and non-speech feedback were given to communicate current mode and song title. The working prototype was compared to an Apple iPod, along the dimensions of trust, engagement, ergonomic and hedonic qualities, and appeal. Subjects rated the MusicCube higher on scales associated with hedonic qualities, while the iPod was preferred for ergonomic qualities. Results on trust measures were found to correlate with ergonomic qualities, while sense of engagement related to hedonic aspects. Subjects generally valued the expressive and tangible interaction with music collections. Next design steps will focus on increasing ergonomic aspects of the MusicCube while maintaining a high hedonic rating.

Squeeze, rock, and roll; can tangible interaction with affective products support stress reduction?

Affective computing focuses on the interpretation of users emotions via physiological and behavioral inputs. Irrelevant gestures with a pen were found to increase when users were given a mentally demanding task. Accordingly, an embedded tangible interface was developed which afforded and measured a rolling behavior, and guided the user towards reaching a balanced state of movement. During informal evaluations users acknowledged how the device could contribute to stress reduction. Conclusion, tangible interfaces appear to offer a non-obtrusive means towards interpreting and reducing stress in the office work context.

Sound and tangible interface for shape evaluation and modification

One of the recent research topics in the area of design and virtual prototyping is offering designers tools for creating and modifying shapes in a natural and interactive way. Multimodal interaction is part of this research. It allows conveying to the users information through different sensory channels. The use of more modalities than touch and vision augments the sense of presence in the virtual environment and can be useful to present the same information in various ways. In addition, multimodal interaction can sometimes be used to augment the perception of the user by transferring information that is not generally perceived in the real world, but which can be emulated by the virtual environment. The paper presents a prototype of a system that allows designers to evaluate the quality of a shape with the aid of touch, vision and sound. Sound is used to communicate geometrical data, relating to the virtual object, which are practically undetectable through touch and vision. In addition, the paper presents the preliminary work carried out on this prototype and the results of the first tests made in order to demonstrate the feasibility. The problems related to the development of this kind of application and the realization of the prototype itself are highlighted. This paper also focuses on the potentialities and the problems relating to the use of multimodal interaction, in particular the auditory channel.

Measuring and adapting behavior during product interaction to influence affect

Sometimes, the way in which we interact with products implicitly communicates how we feel. Based on previous studies on how emotions can be detected and communicated via product interaction, we discuss how an interactive product could influence affect by responding and changing behaviors expressing affect. We discuss the proposal of the affective feedback loop in product interaction by its implementation in the prototype of a pen that senses two implicit behaviors related to restlessness, rock and roll. Furthermore, the pen provides inherent feedback, focusing on the perceptual motor skills, as a means to reflect on these behaviors. The pen was evaluated in an experiment, by which we explored whether this type of feedback would influence the emotional experience. Two participant groups were compared, and participants that used the pen with feedback showed a lower heart rate throughout the whole experiment. Because these participants were not aware that the pen provided any feedback, we propose the concept of unaware interaction and discuss what its implications are for design.

Exploring Manipulative Hand Movements During a Stressful Condition

By observing the way people who are stressed interact with objects one may be able to interpret how they feel (Krauss et al., 1996). For instance, at a presentation a nervous presenter can often be seen fidgeting with a pen or pointer. This has shown to be true even if people are actively trying to suppress or hide these feelings (Ekman & Friesen, 1967). The behaviors when manipulating objects during a stressful event appear to be qualitatively different from manipulations during boring or neutral events (Kenner, 1984). Yet, no studies were found in which a categorization was made in the types of manipulative hand movements during different arousing and non-arousing conditions. The goal of this study was to explore what manipulative hand movements are evoked when using a pen during a stressful event as compared to a neutral event.

Interactive Sonification of Curve Shape and Curvature Data

This paper presents a number of different sonification approaches that aim to communicate geometrical data, specifically curve shape and curvature information, of virtual 3-D objects. The system described here is part of a multi-modal augmented reality environment in which users interact with virtual models through the modalities vision, hearing and touch. An experiment designed to assess the performance of the sonification strategies is described and the key findings are presented and discussed.

Brush and learn: transforming tooth brushing behavior through interactive materiality, a design exploration

To counteract the increased tendency in skill learning addressing our cognitive abilities we discuss an opportunity on how performance skills can be trained by means of inherent feed forward through interactive materiality. We address this approach in the context of designing an interactive toothbrush that supports users in learning a complex brushing technique by relying solely on their perceptual motor skills. We discuss how we designed a natural coupling according to the Frogger framework in the action-perception loops with the interactive toothbrush. We evaluated the toothbrush in context. The experimental results indicate that complex movements can be learned by providing inherent feed forward on the actions of users in skill training. This supports our argument and vision that the design-inspired approach or interactive materiality may offer new opportunities for behavioral transformation.

MusicCube: a physical experience with digital music

Listening to digital music on a computer has led to a loss of part of the physical experience associated with earlier media formats such as CDs and LPs. This paper presents a series of steps and decisions that led to the design of MusicCube, a tangible user interface that allows users to control digitally stored music on a computer by means of gestures and positioning. Interaction with the MusicCube is enriched by offering feedback through multi-coloured light effects and clicking sounds together with computer-generated speech. Despite some ergonomic shortcomings, when comparing to the iPod, users appreciated the design and enjoyed using it.

Grand Challenges in Shape-Changing Interface Research

Shape-changing interfaces have emerged as a new method for interacting with computers, using dynamic changes in a devices physical shape for input and output. With the advances of research into shape-changing interfaces, we see a need to synthesize the main, open research questions. The purpose of this synthesis is to formulate common challenges across the diverse fields engaged in shape-change research, to facilitate progression from single prototypes and individual design explorations to grander scientific goals, and to draw attention to challenges that come with maturity, including those concerning ethics, theory-building, and societal impact. In this article we therefore present 12 grand challenges for research on shape-changing interfaces, derived from a three-day workshop with 25 shape-changing interface experts with backgrounds in design, computer science, human-computer interaction, engineering, robotics, and material science.

Post-error expression of speed and force while performing a simple, monotonous task with a haptic pen

Control errors often occur in repetitive and monotonous tasks, such as manual assembly tasks. Much research has been done in the area of human error identification; however, most existing systems focus solely on the prediction of errors, not on increasing worker accuracy. The current study examines force responses before, during and after errors in a simulated assembly line task in order to determine an optimal feedback system for error reduction. Confirming previous findings, enhanced movement speed and reduced force occurred before erroneous trials and slowing occurred after erroneous trials. Given the results, we suggest a haptic feedback system which stimulates users to exert increased force levels after completing an erroneous task in order to increase degree of control and re-build worker confidence and thereby reduce overall error rate.